Economics Faculty Works Economics 2-2008 The Hedonistic Paradox: Is Homo Economicus Happier? James Konow Loyola Marymount University,
[email protected] Joseph Earley Loyola Marymount University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/econ_fac Part of the Economics Commons Recommended Citation Konow, James, and Earley, Joseph (2008). “The Hedonistic Paradox: Is Homo Economicus Happier?,” Journal of Public Economics, vol. 92, nos. 1-2 (February), pp. 1-33. This Article - post-print is brought to you for free and open access by the Economics at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Economics Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. March 2007 The Hedonistic Paradox: Is Homo Economicus Happier? James Konow* and Joseph Earley Department of Economics Loyola Marymount University One LMU Drive, Suite 4200 Los Angeles, CA 90045 Abstract The “Hedonistic Paradox” states that homo economicus, or someone who seeks happiness for him- or herself, will not find it, but the person who helps others will. This study examines two questions in connection with happiness and generosity. First, do more generous people, as identified in dictator experiments, report on average greater happiness, or subjective well-being (SWB), as measured by responses to various questionnaires? Second, if the answer is affirmative, what is the causal relationship between generosity and happiness? We find a favorable correlation between generosity and happiness (i.e., SWB is directly related to several measures of happiness and inversely related to unhappiness) and examine various possible explanations, including that material well-being causes both happiness and generosity.